The Marriage Contract (Anderson Brothers)

“Yeah, I was going to be sending you the new reports today when I got in, actually,” I said. “But we’ve been doing great. Last night was the first slow night in a while.”

“That’s fantastic,” he said. “Good to hear. Anything I can do to help things run more smoothly?”

“Nothing I can think of. Maybe a bigger limit on the business expense credit card?”

We both laughed, and then the line went quiet.

“Wait, there isn’t really an issue, is there?” he said. “I can have the limit expanded, but I would worry if it were getting close to maxed out.”

“No, no, it was a joke. We’re good,” I said. “Harder to tell over the phone, I guess.”

“Speaking of that. Are you guys coming down for Mom’s birthday? We are going to make it and do a little thing for her. She won’t be happy unless she has all the kids.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Of course. We should be able to do that just fine.”

“Good deal, good deal,” he said. “Well, I won’t keep you from your lunch. I just wanted to check in. Tell Jordan and Hannah I said hello and that I’ll see them in a couple of weeks.”

“Will do,” I said. I ended the call and set the phone down. “Shit.”

I had forgotten that her birthday was coming up. It was still a couple of weeks away, but still, I should have remembered that. At least I had some time to come up with something to get her and make sure we had the day either closed or covered. I spent the time heading to work coming up with possibilities for things to get Mom.

As soon as I got in, I went to the office and started collecting all the files I needed to send to Tom and putting together an email. I could hear the end of lunch happening outside the door while I worked, and eventually Jordan poked his head in.

“You busy?” he asked.

“Just sending Tom the reports,” I said, not looking up.

“Ahh, yeah, I should have sent those the other day, sorry. Did he call?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yup.”

“Of course he did,” Jordan said, shaking his head. “I think I’m going to head out early today. Babysitter isn’t feeling great, so I’m going to head home to relieve her. Hannah will stay, though, help Chloe train.”

“Sounds good,” I said. “I’ll cut her as soon as things slow down after the last call.”

“Awesome. See you tomorrow,” he said.

“Don’t forget Mom’s birthday,” I called out, and he almost fell back into the room after having pulled away.

“Right. He asked about that, too, didn’t he?” I nodded. “We’re going down there, aren’t we?” I nodded again. “Alright then.”

Jordan took off, and I finished off the email and sent it off. Without Jordan there, that meant I needed to get out there and get things prepped. Heading out onto the floor, I noticed Chloe was already there, sitting and talking in a booth with Hannah. Jordan was still there, saying his goodbyes, and I waved at him as he walked out.

Service began not much later, and I was in and out of the kitchen, relying mostly on the line cook. Otherwise, I was bouncing behind the bar and checking on tables in a management role. That meant I was always within eyesight of Chloe. Every time she left a table, I watched her walk away, and occasionally I would go check on the table myself and getting some really good reviews of her service. Hannah was handling the tables beside hers, splitting her section with her, and Chloe was doing pretty well.

As she went into the back to put up some tickets in the window, I followed her back there. She seemed surprised to see me, but not upset. I flashed a smile and hoped she didn’t think I was coming at her to fire her again like I did the day before. At least we weren’t meeting on the back porch, or else I would have a hard time not thinking about the dream from earlier in the day.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey,” I said back. “I just wanted to come tell you that it seems like you’re doing a lot better tonight. No spilled drinks.” I grinned, and she smiled back.

“Yeah, knock on wood. I feel like I at least got control of my balance today and haven’t been a total klutz,” she said.

“Well, I’ve been doing the manager work, talking to tables, and they seem to like you out there too, so keep it up.”

“Thank you,” she said. “And thank you again for being so nice to me. It really means a lot for people to just accept me and help me out. I know a lot of it is because of Hannah, but I still appreciate it.”

“I mean, Hannah vouching for you helped, but you’ve proven yourself so far.”